American Football part 3

Hello everyone!

Every thing is going to the end. The same unfortunately happens with this presentation. In the last part I will tell about a homeland of American football which is, as you probably know, USA.

In American football players are treated as heroes. They have fan clubs and earn a lot of money . If we are talking about salaries it will be good to mention a bit more about it. From last presentation you can remember that most of Polish players do not have any salary. Let’s compare this knowledge with salaries in the US teams.

New Orleans Saint quarter back gained in 2010 about 9 800 000 in one season. Running back from the same team gained $ 8 000 000 These are true salaries given by the club. You can add a bit more taken from, for example, advertisements. In my opinion it will double the amounts. Our Polish player Sebasian Janikowski, kicker from Oakland Raiders, is one of the best sportsmen in Poland. He signed a contract for next 4 years worth $ 16 000 000 .

http://www.sport.pl/

For comparison right know Rober Kubica is on the top of the list with 25 000 000zł earned in one season in Formula 1 with the Renault Team.

The main organization in USA is called the National Football League (NFL). It was established in 1920 and nowadays contains 32 teams around the United States. All league is divided into 4 divisions: East, North, South and West. In every season every team from the league plays 16 matches in 17 weeks of time.

After all seasons play-offs start. It consists of 6 best teams. 4 of them are champions from every division and 2 more on the "wild card" rules. The last and final match of tournament is called Super Bowl. I will tell you about it a bit later.

On the NFL website you can find almost every information which is important for real football fan and links to all American football teams.

http://www.nfl.com/

Festival of American Football - Super Bowl

Super Bowl is a final match for the American football championship. All of the ceremony is called Super Bowl Sunday and has become a national holiday. From most of years Super Bowl finals are most viewed sport transmissions in USA. Last Super Bowl final took in front of TV 111 000 000 of people. This entails huge costs of advertising. Advertiser are ready to pay unbelievable amounts for showing a bit of their products. It was said that FOX television took about 2 700 000$ for 30 seconds of time in every break in broadcasting. It gives $ 250 000 000 for all Super Bowl final.

http://wikipedia.org/

Here are statistics of last 3 Super Bowl Finals:

Date	Winner	Second Team	Result	City	Stadium
1 lutego 2009	Pittsburgh Steelers	Arizona Cardinals	27-23	Tampa	Raymond James Stadium
7 lutego 2010	New Orleans Saints	Indianapolis Colts	31-17	Miami	Sun Life Stadium
6 lutego 2011	Green Bay Packers	Pittsburgh Steelers	31-25	Arlington	Cowboys Stadium

http://wikipedia.org/

I would like to make a bit of summary after all the weeks of American football.

First of all, I wanted to bring you a bit closer to this exotic, for Poles, sport. I hope it happened :).

Secondly, maybe some of you wanted to play as a child in a football team. Now it is possible, Polish league is developing really fast and will probably in the near future be able to compete with other European leagues. I am sure in next 5 years’ time there will be live broadcasts directly from Polish fields on TV.

Some last questions:

As you see, salaries in NFL are huge. Do you think money should control sport?

One wanted to be an astronaut, another a firefighter. Who did you want to be? Maybe a football player as I did ? :)

The world of advertising. PART III

Another interesting topic when talking about advertising is product placement. Sometimes, when we watch TV, in movies and in TV series, somewhere in the background we notice a trademark or a logotype; sometimes the main character who we identify with uses the services of a certain company. That kind of message is sometimes pretty straightforward, sometimes well hidden, and is not at all uncommon these days.

One of the most obvious examples is House MD, who always wears Nike shoes, uses an iPhone and an Apple MacBook:

Another good example is the movie Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, where the courier company FedEx plays a vital role in the story:

(The company even used the movie motive in its official advertisements:

Or things like Oreo cookies in Friends TV series and McDonalds franchise in The Fifth Element movie:

Increasingly often we can find ads in computer games:

In the last years we have spent a lot of time in front of a computer screen, using the internet, and the fact that this medium is so widely used among all kind of social groups makes interactive advertisements grow in popularity really fast.

Below, a campaign of office products made by TippEx. I think it's worth trying, it doesn't take too long at all:

http://www.youtube.com/user/tippexperience

The last thing I would like to write about is shockvertising. A risky type of advertising, touching very sensitive and controversial topics, which is not always pleasant. It causes mixed feelings among people. It is designed to provoke us. An example from last month, a photo shoot in Vogue magazine:

The last ad, promoting learning English as a foreign language :)

Have you ever noticed product placement in a movie you watched?

What is your opinion on shockvertising? Do you think advertising agencies should steep down to using that kind of campaigns?

How do you think the advertising world is going to change with the development of new technologies?

Designed childhood

Have you ever heard about hyper-parenting? Perhaps not, especially if you are not parents yet. Still, you could notice some differences in raising children now and in time of your own childhood. You may remember playgrounds full of kids of diverse age, running and screaming without parents guarding them all the time. Now it’s rather an unusual view. So-called ‘helicopter parents’ prefer their children to spend more time at home, where they are safe, or on numerous after-school activities.

Of course, not all the parents of 21^st century are continuously controlling their children. Some kids are simply staying at home and playing computer games or watching TV and that’s why they are not playing outside even if weather is perfect. Their parents have no time to engage in their childhood so much, because of their own career. It seems that time is running faster than it used to in previous centuries. Still, parents feel much more pressure to protect their children than even 20 years ago. Almost everyday we can read headlines like: “A three year old girl fell out of the window” or “Two children injured in a car accident”. There’s plenty of information about kidnapping and abusing babies too. So, danger is everywhere and parents live in constant fear. Do you think that now life is more dangerous now than it was twenty years ago?

Webcams in nurseries have become more popular lately. Another instrument of constant control are cell phones. A few years old kids have their own phones so parents can call them when they are at school. Next, there are special chips (it’s not a joke!) that help parents find their kids on Google Maps.

I think that this need to control children is a part of our attitude towards them. People have one or sometimes two children and believe they can’t afford to have more. Kids became some kind of expensive gadgets to show off, so celebrities like to be photographed with them. Being pregnant lets actress to get to the covers of magazines.

If you decide to have only one child, the pressure to make it genius grows. People spend enormous amounts of money for Chinese lessons, ballet classes or Baby Einstein CDs to make their heir a star. There are no scientific proofs that “programming” children at such a young age works. Parents do their best to ensure their children will succeeded in their future life and they start from the very beginning. A “Project: Child” starts much earlier than when their kids are born. They plan conception. They try to plan baby’s sex. They try to plan their zodiac sign. Sometimes they plan twins. If they have in vitro fertilization, they can select which embryo will be born and even if their children will inherit their genetic disabilities. Can you imagine that dwarf parents sometimes choose their baby to be short too?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16299656/ns/health-pregnancy/t/designer-babies-made-to-order-defects/

If parents use banks of sperms or eggs, they can choose if their baby will be a blue-eyed blond girl or a tall boy with an artistic talent. Sometimes they won’t achieve this goal, but they do much to get the desired result. Doesn’t it sound like from S-F novel?

With so much effort done in the planning conception, pressure of making children successful must be huge. In last months a book written by Amy Chua “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” got a bestseller worldwide. The author explains why in her opinion Chinese upbringing is better than in Western countries. She underlines that Asian kids concentrated on constant developing of their skills are better students and they achieve more spectacular successes. Chinese education is constant hard work with no waste of time for having fun.

Only a part of parents can afford many extra-curricular activities for their children, but they are an unsurpassed example for others. A super-intelligent child running from French classes to karate and yoga, with only “A” grades in school is a modern dream. I suppose you have already heard about “baby-aerobic” or “baby-English lessons”? That’s just for a start. Many middle-class parents think they don’t secure their children proper conditions to develop their talents if they don’t send them to these kind of activities. Everyone wants to have a super-child, there’s no place for mediocrity.

When kids grow up, their parents are still beside him or her. Carl Honoré in his book “Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting” describes the phenomenon of people who make their children dependent on them also in their adult life. Kids raised that way got used to the total control and care of their parents. They don’t know what the risk is, because their moms and dads never let them try it.

1. What do you think about modern parenting? Has it been changed since you’ve been a child?
2. If you had children, what would you want for them most: to be successful, to be happy, or to be a good man / woman)? Justify your answer.
3. What were your feelings while you were watching North Korean children playing the guitars in one of the videos above?

American Football part 2

Hello everyone. As I promised you the previous time this part of my presentation will be, I hope, more interesting and will touch upon the topic of American football in Poland.

Right now probably most of you even do not realize that this sport is also practiced in Poland. That is great because this is the main reason for me to do the presentation on such a topic. What is more, football is probably the most developing sport in our country. In 2004 Polish American Football Association (Polski Związek Futbolu Amerykańskiego) was founded.

http://www.pzfa.pl/

It has been probably the most important event for American football in Poland so far. They prepare special courses for future judges and keep everything in the right order to improve and advertise football.

We have 2 leagues. First one has 10 teams and second one 12 divided into two groups Northern and Southern. As you can easily see we have 22 registered teams and more and more are appearing every month! Even in Warsaw there are 3 teams:

http://www.pzfa.pl/

Eagles were established in 1999 and they are the oldest American football team in Poland with rooster reaching almost 50 players. On the other side we have the youngest team in Poland - Warewolves. They officially were founded in 2010.

The best teams have their own professional trainers with special tasks, divided to train special formations, like defensive coordinator, O-Line coach or Line Coach. They are often brought from the United States or other countries. Last Saturday the Eagles were playing in Warsaw against The Crew Wrocław. Right now they are probably the most powerful teams in Poland.

Nowadays most of players play as volunteers. But sill there are some with special contracts. Some players have been bought from other teams from Poland or even brought specially from the United States. As I mentioned at the begging of my presentation this sport is just developing. Imagine what will happen in next 10 years’ time if such a fast growth will continue.

I encourage all of you to try and go to see a match only as a curiosity. Maybe some of you will get interested in it and will try his strength against others. I hope it will happen. If so here you can look for a team in your neighborhood :

http://www.pzfa.pl/?go=druzyny

Try, maybe they are looking just for you!

Questions:

1. Did you realize that American football exists in Poland?
2. Is any team in your neighborhood? If so, did you know anything about it?
3. Did this part of presentation convince you to go and see on your own the next football match?

Abortion

Nowadays abortion is a field of war between two fighting communities. One, called “pro-choice”, promotes abortion as a natural free choice of every pregnant woman, who can independently decide if she wants to have her baby born or not. Another, called “pro-life”, believes that every tiny human being has the right to be born and live. It seems that any comprehension of these two groups is impossible, although they both declare to care of human life and women’s health.

During ages, there always were some unwanted pregnancies. Because of many circumstances women of different cultures and times were trying to hide their gravidity and kill their embryos. Some of them succeeded, some died because of the complications, some other had their babies born.

Due to development of medicine number of complications caused by abortion in Europe is constantly falling, but still there are many negative consequences. These are among others infections, hemorrhages, infertility and stillbirths in later life. There are also problems connected with mental heath named Post-Abortion Syndrome. It may include post-traumatic stress, sexual dysfunction or even severe depression leading to a suicide. Pro-life groups cite research from New Zealand proving 30% increase of mental disorder or Finnish study showing 6 times higher suicide rate among women who had decided for this procedure. In the same time pro-choice organizations declare that there is no medical prove of any mental consequences of having abortion. Both sides present different numbers and examinations to discredit opponents.

Arguing about women’s health pro-choice submits that negative consequences of abortion are much more serious in cases of illegal operations. Sterile conditions and qualified doctors support health of women and can save it when something goes wrong. In poorly developed countries abortion is numbered fourth among reasons of women’s death. Pro-life answers are the best way to protect women’s health. And what about tiny “future-women” in their mothers’ wombs? Why the pro-choice don’t care about their health?

Here we come to an essential point of this discussion. If it starts somewhere, it must be at the very beginning of human life. Pro-life activists declare that every human life needs to be protected and it doesn’t matter how old it is or if it is already born. Pro-choice always prefer quality of life of possible mother than its fetus’ life. They say it’s only “a set of cells”.

http://pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plik:AbortionLawsMap-NoLegend.png&filetimestamp=20101105014459

It’s interesting, that in the 21st century, when we know how to save health and life of immature babies in their mothers’ wombs, which is usually expensive, we also spend money on killing other babies in other women’s wombs. So, when does human life begin? It seems that now we are ones who decide. If a woman wants to have a baby, she calls her 2-week fetus “her baby” and has no doubt that it is a human creature. She loves it from the beginning and does her best to ensure it a good development. When a woman doesn’t want her baby to be born, she doesn’t call it “a baby”, she talks about unwanted pregnancy as a kind of disease.

http://fakty.interia.pl/fakty_dnia/news/najwczesniejszy-wczesniak-swiata,873732

If we think who are people from these two fighting groups, we may contrast feminists and Catholics. In fact it doesn’t show the whole true. There are feminists who are pro-life (check: http://www.feministsforlife.org/who/aboutus.htm) as well as antiabortionists who have different religious views. The fact is that abortion is a huge business subsidized in many countries so definitely we can call it a lobby group.

There are plenty of people somewhere in the middle of this battle of views, who are against abortion but they accept it in some conditions. Polish law is a good example of this kind of compromise. Abortion in Poland is banned except in the following three circumstances:

1. When the woman's life or health is endangered by the continuation of pregnancy,

2. When the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act, or

3. When the fetus is seriously malformed.

Actually these reasons are in minority between ones given for having abortion. These come from USA


The situation is diverse in different countries:

but still it seems that difficult reasons mentioned in Polish law are incidental.

How many pregnancies in Europe are aborted?

Well, these numbers are impressive for me. The situation in Russia or Romania looks dramatic.

Moreover, I want to show you two moving videos for your own consideration:

1. What do you think about it? Are you more pro-choice or rather pro-life?

2. When does human life begin and who should decide about it?

3. Do you accept Polish law solution in this matter?

The world of advertising. PART II

This time I would like to spend some time on TV adverts as well as show a few typical tricks used to draw the viewers attention.

For a start, I would like to show you a few commercials which have recently won the awards for the best TV adverts throughout the last few years.

The first commercial I would like to show you is an ad for Cadbury chocolate, showing an amazing creation of a gorilla playing a Phil Collins song on a drumkit. This ad helped the company to rebuild its image. Another ad is a musical collage, showing a mouse advertising Nolan's Cheddar cheese.

And now one of the most popular tricks - making ads starring a famous person (the halo effect). My next example shows a popular actress, Jennifer Aniston, and a very popular song by The Turtles played in the background:

Next is another commercial, using a cover of Survivor’s hit 'Eye of the Tiger', best known from the Rocky movie (you might have noticed this song used in the mouse ad in the beginning of the presentation). The ad is about a drink branded by Starbucks:

An interesting thing: an ad only shown during special events, as this Puma advert, another cover of a popular song:

This time it's rather an unusual advert, using a computer game world, in which a Toyota suddenly appears. The ad was made by one of the world's most famous advertising agencies, Saatchi & Saatchi:

http://www.saatchi.com/en/our_work/ideas_gallery/tacoma_truck_summoner

Here's another brilliant ad, very well-known recently, especially to Star Wars fans. This time a Volkswagen:

Apart from the entertainment value commercials sometimes serve an educational purpose. Here are two brilliant public service announcements: 'Children see, children do. Make your influence positive' and 'Heaven can wait. Belt up.'

What's your favorite TV ad and which one is the most irritating and repulsive?

Have you seen any of the ads before?

What do you think about public service announcements - campaigns made for the public good? Do you think there should be more of them or maybe they are only made for someone's profit?